What is happening to France, its food culture, its very identity. Talk of lower bread consumption. More people going to the gym. More snacking. More bad food habits. The loss of the closed-for-lunch to enjoy something more satisfying than a quick sandwich.
Nothing to do with France per se; but I had a lovely sit-down lunch at Mettle last week. Frank, our server, was a rock star. He did not even mind my detailed order about how my double espresso should arrive (piping hot).
And now I learn that one of the most talked about restos in Paris, le Bistrot Paul Bert, is offering a snack time food offering in the late afternoon, which they are calling “un petit faim” (for those being just a little hungry/with a little hunger). From 2 pm to 6:30 pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Paris! France! What has gotten into you?!
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVED this idea immediately when I first saw Wendy Lyn’s posting it on The Paris Kitchen this weekend:
"UPDATE: Great news! In addition to lunch & dinner Tuesday – Saturday, Paris’ favorite classic bistro Le Bistrot Paul Bert will now stay open throughout the afternoon offering a “Petit Faim” menu (little hunger menu) from 2pm to 6:30pm.
A country terrine (9€), Jambon de Paris with salad (12€), omelette (10€) with cèpe mushrooms (15€), duck foie gras on toast (16€), sauteéd eggs and ham (9€), cheese plate (9€), a daily-changing hot plate of the day (14€) and desserts like their famous Paris-Brest, crème caramel and Baba au Rhum (8€)."
I love this offering because as I map out my eating-out calendar for only 4 November days in Paris (arriving on a Sunday, leaving the following Thursday), that leaves only two full days of eating at many of the worthwhile eating places in Paris. This is because, of course, many restaurants/bistrots are closed on Sunday and Monday, making those days challenging (but by no means impossible) if food is a priority on your Paris stay.
This news then, finding out that I can get in for a little taste of something at this much-praised old school-ish food heaven that is le Bistrot Paul Bert (and right down the street from my rental digs in the 11eme) and avoid worrying how to work it in on the limited lunch and dinners on two days...well, it's a huge relief.
And what timing to see this bit of food news--about institutionalizing (high-end) snacking--just as other changes to French culture are underway, or at least talked about with more frequency. I learned this tidbit from The Paris Kitchen just one day after we discussed in my Business French class the forces that are underway to do away with the (currently almost complete) ban on Sunday openings for retail stores in France (including Paris). Again, what is happening to France?! [This is part of an immense demographic, cultural, socio-economic shift, as this recent article on this same topic notes.]
Sure, it’s annoying that the shopping paradise that is BHV is closed on Sundays. But I appreciate more the why it is closed and what that means as a metaphor for the pace of Sunday life, even in such a huge and cosmopolitan city as Paris. The very limited retail activities that are allowed to exist on Sundays in Paris, and all of France, means the day has a tranquility to it than we in the US do not even realize we are missing.
I try to plan trips around being in Paris on a Sunday. It is, in theory, a day for family. For cycling. For meandering. Or sitting in the park. Not running to Target to get a headstart on the week. The pace just seems slower. I relish it. I deal with the restaurant "situation," with many/most being closed on Sundays and Mondays, by embracing the structure this provides to restaurant planning.
So although I love that I can knock Bistrot Paul Bert off the list for a meal (if I could even get a reservation), because I can stop in and get a “duck foie gras on toast” snack one afternoon in between meetings, I still have to wonder.
What has gotten into France.
I get that change is good. Change and iterations thereof in all facets of daily life are inevitable. But those changes that wreak havoc with the very core of one’s identity...those changes I’m not so sure about. Once BHV is open on Sundays, I will know the end of the world, or France as I know it, is nigh.
Comments